Hugh Fitzgerald: Nicholas Kristof’s 12-Step Program (Revised Edition)

Just a brief note from Nicholas Kristof, or a reasonable facsimile thereof:

As I am “the moral conscience of our generation of journalists,” the winner of two Pulitzer prizes, the first blogger on the New York Times’ website, a journalist of whom it has been said that “there is no one in journalism anywhere in the United States…who has done anything like the work he has done to figure out how poor people are actually living around the world,” who in 2007 U.S. News & World Report named as “one of “America’s Best Leaders,” and who in 2011 was named one of seven “Top American Leaders” by the Harvard Kennedy School and the Washington Post, someone whose “writing has reshaped the field of opinion journalism,” in 2013 I was still impressing enough people to be awarded the Goldsmith Award for Career Excellence in Journalism by Harvard University. And I find it extremely humbling that Alex S. Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning director of Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Shorenstein Center, declared in presenting the award to me that “the reporter who’s done more than any other to change the world is Nick Kristof.” In the same year, I was named “an International Freedom Conductor by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, largely for my work exposing human trafficking and linking it to modern slavery.” And it may interest you to know that the last person named to receive the title before me, two years earlier, was the Dalai Lama. Half the Sky, a book I wrote with my wife Sheryl WuDunn on the condition of women around the world, was called by one reviewer “one of the most important books I have ever reviewed,” and another reviewer upped the ecstatic ante, calling it “the most significant book that I have ever reviewed.” You can find out more about my accomplishments and the recognition I have received at my Wikipedia entry, which someone is constantly updating in great detail. Whoever said that his Wikipedia entry was “the lengthened shadow of a man” – or for that matter, woman — was surely onto something. And though some have suggested that I be given a Nobel Prize (I’m not sure whether they had in mind the prize for peace or that for literature), at this point I think that honor, the awarding of which, no matter what the category, I would accept in all humility, as of now might be somewhat premature.

Recent responses to my 12-step program for those who want to fight back against the Age of Trump and the Darkness Descending have suggested to me that I might expand on my proposals having to do with Islam. In the hope of spreading understanding of one of the world’s great religions and giving victimized Muslims reason to hope, I started a few days ago to do something I have long wanted to do, but what with one thing and another (I’ve visited 150 countries, I’ve pocketed dozens of awards) never did find the time. But now I hope that you, my more than 1.1 million followers of my Twitter account (who have made me the most followed journalist in the world), will choose to study Islam along with me.

1. I WILL not put off any longer my study of Islam. I am now in the midst of reading the Qur’an, an effort that should take about 30 hours from start to finish. I pledge to reread it each month, in order to keep fresh my understanding of Islam’s central text. And I hope many of you among my 1.1 million followers on Twitter will join me in this effort. Our Muslim brothers deserve no less.

2. I WILL read a tafsir or commentary to the Qur’an, to help me make sense of difficult or obscure passages, of which there are many, and to understand more fully the relations of the parts to the whole. I want to better grasp the interpretative doctrine of naskh, or abrogation, which I have just learned privileges the later, more militant passages that contradict earlier, milder passages, that is, the Medinan over the Meccan verses. I urge my readers to do the same. I have been told that Blogging the Qur’an by Robert Spencer is a particularly useful exegesis, but I am still reluctant to recommend his work, for I remain sure – though I am not exactly sure why I am sure, since I have refrained from reading a word of it – that there must be something very wrong with it. So say Reza Aslan, Cathy Young, the heads of CAIR and the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other grand panjandrums of compassion and diversity and outreach too numerous to mention. Quod erat demostrandum. Still, I just might have a look. Perhaps it’s time. You never know.

3. I WILL carefully note those Qur’anic passages that have to do with the treatment of women, which is only natural, given how much of my life as a journalist has been spent reporting on the mistreatment of women. I think we all ought to be aware that Muslim women inherit half as much as men (Qur’an 4:11); that their testimony is worth half that of a man (2:282); that polygamy is licit in Islam, and so are female slaves, “those whom your right hand possesses”; that a Muslim man is allowed to beat his disobedient wife, that a Muslim man need only pronounce the triple-talaq to divorce his wife; and that women are described in the Qur’an as inferior to men, for “the men are a degree above them” (2:228); and in one of the most respected compilations of Hadith, which are the stories about Muhammad’s words and deeds, the Sahih Bukhari, “[Muhammad] said, ‘Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man? They replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘This [is because of] the deficiency in her intelligence.’”(6.301)

As the “moral conscience of our generation of journalists” and the author, with my wife Sheryl WuDunn, of Half the Sky, about examples of misogyny around the world, I will prepare a plan for ending the mistreatment of women under Islam. This means that I will devote at least one column every month to the condition of Muslim women. If for some reason results are not forthcoming from our State Department, or the United Nations, I’ll devote two columns per month to the condition of women under Islam. Or even, quite possibly, three.

4. I WILL hold up for inspection those passages in the Qur’an that deal with Unbelievers, and how they are to be treated in a Muslim society. These will include, but not be limited to, the following:

Qur’an 2:191 “Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them”
Qur’an 3:21 “Muslims must not take the infidels as friends”
Qur’an 5:33 “Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam”
Qur’an 8:12 “Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Koran”
Qur’an 8:60 “Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels”
Qur’an 8:65 “The unbelievers are stupid, urge all Muslims to fight them”
Qur’an 9:5 “When the opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you find them”
Quran 9:123 “Make war on the infidels living in your neighbourhood”
Qur’an 22:19 “Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water, melt their skin and bellies”
Qur’an 47:4 “Do not hanker for peace with the infidels, behead them when you catch them”.

I will invite readers of my column, and my 1.1 million followers on Twitter, to interpret the words and arrive at the real meaning of these passages.

5. I WILL describe for my readers the concept of the Dhimmi in Muslim jurisprudence, a word applied to those non-Muslims who, if they agree to a host of legal (economic, social, political) disabilities, can continue to live, and even practice their faith (provided their faith is Christianity or Judaism, that of the Peoples of the Book) in a Muslim polity. In the hundreds of columns I have written that touched on Islam, I now realize I had overlooked the concept of the Dhimmi, and especially ignored the required payment of the capitation tax, or Jizyah, so I will be sure to discuss the legal status of non-Muslims under Muslim rule, and refer readers to Antoine Fattal’s “Le statut legal des non-Musulmans en pays d’islam.” And of course I hope that some of the 1.1 million followers I have on Twitter, if they know enough French, will take up my suggestion.

6. I WILL explain to my readers how, in Islam, the world is seen as divided between Dar al-Islam, the Domain of Islam, where Muslims rule, and Dar al-Harb, the Domain of War, where Muslims do not yet rule, and that between Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb unending war is prescribed, until Islam everywhere dominates, and Muslims rule, everywhere.

7. I WILL read the most accessible works of at least a dozen scholars of Islam who wrote before the present Age of Inhibition, and include excerpts from them in my columns, so that those wishing to go deeper into their own study of Islam will have Recommended Readings available. I will also post those excerpts permanently at my website. These scholars will include Joseph Schacht, Snouck Hurgronje, Henri Lammens, K. S. Lal, Ignaz Goldziher, Sir William Muir, St. Clair Tisdall, Arthur Jeffrey, Samuel Zwemer, Georges Vajda, David Margoliouth, and Majid Khadduri. I will urge my 1.1 million followers on Twitter to emulate my example.

8. I WILL publicize the work of defectors from Islam who have found refuge in the West, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, Ibn Warraq, Wafa Sultan, and Magdi Allam, and include excerpts from each of them in my columns and at my website. I will explain why these defectors are as valuable to the Western world as were defectors from the K.G.B. during the Cold War. I will explain why they are all under a permanent death threat from Muslims, requiring many of them to be attended by bodyguards. Therefore, it behooves us to pay careful attention to their testimonies of life under Islam.

9. I WILL discuss the description in the Qur’an of Unbelievers as “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98.6) and of Muslims as “the best of peoples”(Qur’an 3.110). I will invite my 1.1 million Twitter followers to come up with their own interpretations of these phrases and what they could possibly mean. I will post both the most plausible replies — and the most implausible –- in my column and at my website.

10. I WILL discuss details of the life of Muhammad, who is regarded by Believers as the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) and the Model of Conduct (uswa hasana) for all time. I will explain the consequences of his marriage to little Aisha for Muslim marriages over the past 1400 years. I will discuss Muhammad’s pleasure at learning of the murders of his mockers Asma bint Marwan and Abu ‘Afak, and at witnessing the massacres of 600-900 bound prisoners of the Banu Qurayza. I will discuss the significance of the raid on the Jewish farmers of the Khaybar Oasis for subsequent Muslim behavior toward Infidels, and especially toward Jews.

11. I WILL explain the Islamic concepts of Taqiyya and Kitman, or religiously-sanctioned deception that is justified as protecting either the Faith of Islam, or the beliefs of some of its adherents.

12. I WILL examine the words “Islamophobia” and “racism” that, I now realize, may have been deployed, lazily or deliberately, as terms of abuse to silence all criticism of Islam. I hereby promise to stop using such terms, and urge my 1.1 million Twitter followers to do the same.

I WILL discuss what the leading Muslim intellectual and poseur in Europe, Tariq Ramadan, meant when he said that “We are here. We are here to stay. It’s over.”

That is the baker’s or faker’s dozen which I offer as a revised edition of my previous 12-step program, so that others, especially journalists, may fulfill their role of being, in that most memorable of my latest phrases, “watchdogs, not lapdogs.” In other words, emulate moi, and you too may someday be described, at your own Wikipedia entry, as “the moral conscience of our generation of journalist.”

“2. I WILL try to do small things in my own life, recognizing that they are inadequate but at least a start: I will sign up on the Council on American-Islamic Relations website, volunteering to fight Islamophobia. I’ll call a local mosque to offer support, or join an interfaith event. I will sign up for an “accompany my neighbor” list if one exists for my area, to be an escort for anyone who is now in fear.”

Those are two mutually exclusive things – opinion and journalism. Either you report the facts as they happened or you give your opinion. For example: “Trump: When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” is news reporting. “Trump is a racist who says Mexicans are rapists and Criminals” is, well, a falsehood posing as “opinion”, and not the reporting of news.

1. “… faker’s dozen” this seems to adequately self-describe this querulous list and the unbelief with which he presents it.

2. The whole project is useless, as he is setting a huge task before himself, most of which is unnecessary as he has already demonstrated enough knowledge of Islam to make an informed decision about it; and seems unable to do so.

When reading this article I got the impression Mr. Kristof is full of himself ( full of shit ) ; a narcissist “pur sang”. Boasting about his accomishments……..praising himself………………..VOMIT . The rest of the article : I lost all motivation to continue reading .

This was written by Mr. Fitzgerald and is a parody, and is FULL of sarcasm. Of course, Kristof would never do any of these things. I’m LOLing all over the place, as it’s hilarious, pointing out the malignant narcissism and hypocrisy of the leftist journalist.

Nicky Kristof should also read the hadiths of muhammed as well as TALK to those religious leaders of islam like Al Bagdadi of ISIS ( IF he is still alive) and Bioko Haram to see how THEY interpret islamic sharia law and teachings of how nonbelievers should be treated in a caliphate – which is their sworn duty to fight and die for!

A perfect destination for next year’s New York Times “Win a Trip with Nick Kristof” contest.
“The Washington Post observed, “Ideally, [Kristof] hopes to teach his companions, who won a contest to travel with him, about the value of witnessing the world’s atrocities and scintillating [sic] them into stories that will call on people to act. Which is what Kristof did with his work in Darfur, Sudan: He caused people – from George Clooney on down – to do whatever they can.”

“Entertainment Weekly wrote: “In ‘Reporter'(a film about Kristof), he’s a compelling figure, a cross between Mother Teresa and the James Woods character in Salvador, and what seals the intensity of his job is the danger.”
——From the Nicholas Kristof hagiography at Wikipedia probably written by Nicholas Kristof.

How can such a man avoid scintillating (sic) the world’s atrocities of the Islamic State into stories for George Clooney to act? Or debating their leaders and straightening them right out about how they are perverting this whole Islam thing? While mentoring the worshipful winner of Win a Trip with Nick Kristof (and film crew)? Then there’s the danger….

To Hugh Fitzgerald- Thank you for reporting on this character, Nick Kristof. I predict 3 things will occur from his 12 step list: He will continue to feel that there is something wrong with Robert Spencer’s “Blogging the Quran” but not read a word of what Robert Spencer writes. He will dismiss the negative and evil directives of the Quran by giving the excuse that Muhammad wanted to protect his new “religion” and keep it cohesive and congruent, as well as keep his cronies and tribal leaders happy with their new-found power. That is why he spoke about killing infidels, hating Jews, taking slaves and beating wives; it was all about cohesiveness, congruency and protection, and it MUST be viewed from that historical perspective! As to defectors of Islam, Nick Kristof will say that they were all very unhappy people, possibly and most probably “manic depressives” and this is the condition they are suffering from, which has nothing to do with Islam! So let’s see if I’m right. ?Please keep us updated with Nick Kristof’s comments, and again, thank you Mr. Fitzgerald.

You are wasting precious time trying to read and understand the quoran. There is nowhere on earth a complete copy as all early manuscripts were deliberately burned by the 3rd caliph. My understanding (forget the English translations) is that between the two most used versions of the quoran in Britain that there are about 1,300 signifficant differences in the arabic texts. Taking a basket of 26 assorted quorans used throughout the middle east etc (not exhaustive as there are many more versions) there are about 7,000 significant arabic differences.

These are not spelling mistakes or grammatical errors of punctuation but significant alterations in the meaning of the sentence and paragraphs,

The quorans as we know it cannot therefore be construed as the true word G-d and studying them is a complete waste of time. Islam is based on lies and there is no sustainable argument confirminf islam is a religion or that allah is a true g0d. There is however sustainable argument that islam is merely a cult and that allah is a false g-d and mohammed is merely a murdering war-lord and paedophile . quorans are merely a story book best used as toilet paper.

What kind of textual variants? Something like “they shall see” v. “they shall see light” (between one point in the Massoretic text of isaiah and the Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll)? A couple of chapters in different order, but still essentially the same (such as in the Massoretic text vs. whatever lay behind the Septuagint for the books of Kings and Jeremiah? I know something about the textual criticism of the Old and New Testaments (no variants allow a reading such as that of Ahmad Deedat)? Leave the last severaal verses of Mark uncertain (per mutilated Codex Alexandrinus) or go with the traditional one, per Irenaeus’ quotation of Mark? My guess is serious textual criticism of the Qur’an would be in order, for, like the New Testament, it is one piece of ancient literature for which we have a very large manuscript selection

You are wasting precious time trying to read and understand the quoran. There is nowhere on earth a complete copy as all early manuscripts were deliberately burned by the 3rd caliph. My understanding (forget the English translations) is that between the two most used versions of the quoran in Britain that there are about 1,300 signifficant differences in the arabic texts. Taking a basket of 26 assorted quorans used throughout the middle east etc (not exhaustive as there are many more versions) there are about 7,000 significant arabic differences.
………………………

Actually, variations in translation are miniscule, and rarely affect the meaning significantly.

It does not really matter if this is the “original” Qur’an or not; just the one that Muslims consider authentic–this is what Muslims follow.

More:

These are not spelling mistakes or grammatical errors of punctuation but significant alterations in the meaning of the sentence and paragraphs,
………………………

Not really. I’ve read the Qur’an in a half dozen translations at this point–the meanings are quite consistent.

After all, this is why Jihad and Shari’ah are so similar, all over the world.

More:

The quorans as we know it cannot therefore be construed as the true word G-d and studying them is a complete waste of time. Islam is based on lies and there is no sustainable argument confirminf islam is a religion or that allah is a true g0d. There is however sustainable argument that islam is merely a cult and that allah is a false g-d and mohammed is merely a murdering war-lord and paedophile . quorans are merely a story book best used as toilet paper.
………………………

No one here considers the Qur’an the word of God. We read it not to detemine the will of “Allah”, but to find out what motivates Muslims.

Actually, Turing did speak some German and had spent some time travelling in Germany. I suppose you went by the movie–not always the most accurate source.

But in any case, Turing was intent on breaking the code, not on reading the content. But it was important for others in British intelligence to be able to speak German, or else breaking the code would have proven useless.

Basic problem. I am a Christian. Muslims are not my brothers. Their texts say so. Any examination of Islam has that as a starting point.

“Bernard Lewis, historian of the Middle East and Islam, says Jihad is an unlimited offensive to bring the whole world under Islamic law; Christian crusades a defensive, limited response to, and imitation of, jihad

From pp.233-234 of The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years:
Even the Christian crusade, often compared with the Muslim jihad, was itself a delayed and limited response to the jihad and in part also an imitation. But unlike the jihad it was concerned primarily with the defense or reconquest of threatened or lost Christian territory…The Muslim jihad, in contrast, was perceived [by Muslims] as unlimited, as a religious obligation that would continue until all the world had either adopted the Muslim faith or submitted to Muslim rule.… The object of jihad is to bring the whole world under Islamic law.”

SPITTING VENOM against others ( It is the same as Adam and Eve shifting RESPONSIBILITY BY pointing fingers) is adding to the already existing EVILS in the World.

The ONLY right thing to do for the whole of the DIVIDED Christian Churches and Christian People all over the World is :

1. Work out UNITY for which Christ The Lord PRAYED. SEEK THE TRUTH OF THE LORD and of his CHURCH like BLESSED JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN.

2. FOLLOW and OBEY Jesus The Lord through his HOLY SPIRIT.

3. Yearn and PRAY that every Christian may become an APOSTLE of Jesus The Lord as it was the CASE with every Christian in the PRIMITIVE Church.

4. EXPERIENCE the Power of The SPIRIT of Jesus The Lord by attending RETREATS conducted by the TRUE APOSTLES of The Lord in our present day World as we have them in THE DIVINE and THE SEHION Retreat Centres – Kerala, INDIA.

5. LEARN from BENNY HINN as to which Church is the Right and true Church BECAUSE of The BODY and Blood of The Lord received in the right spirit.

In UK, THE DIVINE has a branch in RAMSGATE. GOOGLE to find out DETAILS.

Benny Hinn knows which church offers the best answers to life’s troubling questions? Whoda thunk it!

And I was so enamored by Rev John Hagee that I sent him some money and got NO trinket. Maybe that Joel Osteen has a better idea….something about prosperity. Even muhammad has an idea about prosperity – just take it from the infidels. And there is the Pope who says if we’ll just love Islam the radicals will stop plundering and killing.

Does anyone actually think Christians will unite before another 9/11? Or ever?

Never mind retreats, led by some creature in a robe. Just read the Bible. Jesus is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’ Get the right Jesus. No man comes to the Father but by Him. There is no unity without sound doctrine. Sound doctrine divides, separating truth from fables. Genuine unity cannot be contrived. The real unity happens when we are born again by faith alone in the finished work: “how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scripture>>”2 Cor. 15:3-5.
EXCELLENT article, Mr. Fitzgerald. Always learn something when I read your articles. Much appreciated. This should be mandatory reading for all prime ministerial, presidential candidates, mayors, elected officials, police departments, etc. Should be. Won’t be. But we can pass it on and hope for the best.

Bravo Hugh Fitzgerald! Excellent parody on Mr.Kristof’s inane, PC 12 steps article I can only wish this piece would go viral. And, I can’t wait for the second installment. Perhaps this may seem a little off topic. In my opinion, Mr K’s work appears to shine the light on Important issues but I don’t see that his work has brought significant/substantive changes in reversing any of those issues.Seems like it’s more about his courage in being in dangerous situations and then exploiting that experience. Oh, wait, then he goes into the horror of the victims’ lives and describes them vividly. And then what? I have worked for humanitarian agencies for years–not perfect, yet the emphasis was on developing good programs to combat a need (gross abuse at times) in that particular community, making sure that the programs were sustainable in the long term, and that some positive results would be achieved. I don’t want to disavow that through his writings light has been shed on various important problems, but I would still like to see him report less on himself and more on results.
And yes, I agree that he should be nominated for the Dhimmi of the Year award.

AMEN! Those who continue to attempt to disguise Islam as a religion of peace are deluded. The “God of Islam” is a demanding, unforgiving image of Satan. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the one true saving God.

If you are not repelled by the braggadocio it appears that this conceited individual has suddenly discovered that there are religious motivations, described in the Quran and Hadiths, behind the growing terrorism, murder, rapes, pedophilia, etc. being committed by Muslims around the world. Perhaps more indicative of his true stature as “the moral conscience of our generation of journalists,” is his dismissal of Robert Spencer and this apparent proclamation of himself as the newly authentic “town crier” on the true nature of Islam by repeating what Spencer and other notable Islamic scholars have been speaking and writing about for over a decade. He, his fellow journalists and likely a large majority of their readers have purposely remained clueless due to the formers unprofessional lack of objectivity, intellectual curiosity and the desire to inform their readership of nothing other than their own, uninformed, “intellectual” assumptions and opinions. Now, suddenly, because a light went off between his ears, the truth will finally be told. Let’s see how Mr. Kristol stands up to the sure to follow accusations of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia.

Given all that, if his sudden awakening is sincere and he dedicates himself to what’s proven to be the so far largely unsuccessful task of widely exposing the festering fallacy that “Islam is a religion of peace,” let’s wish him well.

Damn, I thought it was for real! I have been doing this since 9/11, but I don’t have a respected world stage as he does to pronounce the truths he undoubtedly would find upon completing his 12-step islam indoctrination program. If every intellect would do this, islam would be banished to the fires of hell where it originated and to where it must return.

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